DoorDash scrapped its fuel surcharge at the end of April.
DoorDash
- Delivery drivers are not accepting orders that cost them more to deliver than their are paid.
- The food delivery company scrapped its fuel surcharge in May despite soaring costs.
- One driver told Insider that he rejects nine out of ten orders.
Some DoorDash drivers are rejecting most orders after the food delivery company ended its fuel surcharge despite soaring prices at the pump.
DoorDash started offering $5 for drivers in March per 100 miles as a small assistance with the cost of gas. However, the food delivery company reversed its decision in April and ended its fuel surcharge.
Curtis Demientieff, a delivery driver from Elizabethtown, KentuckyY, told Insider he now rejects nine out of ten orders. His acceptance rate is 13% and he spends $140 on gas from his average weekly earnings of $700.
“You learn what restaurants to stay away from, or which ones to not accept during certain times,” he said. “Some restaurants I won’t go to unless it’s a certain dollar amount for a certain delivery distance.”
Demientieff uses the company’s DasherDirect card to receive 10% cashback on fuel purchases. However, not all “dashers” are signed up to receive their pay on the card, meaning some miss out on the perk.
Another delivery driver has stopped working with Doordash altogether and now delivers for a local company in Bloomington, Indiana.
Karissa Jacobs, who has been a delivery driver for two years, said she was only getting $2 to $3 for orders that would take 30 minutes or more. “With high gas prices anything I made was going towards that and it got to a point where it wasn’t worth it,” she said.
Jacobs used to pay $20 for half a tank of gas but was spending almost triple that sum.
“I’ve also seen drivers cancel orders because it’s not worth it and people had to wait hours for food,” Jacobs said.
“When I first started DoorDash I’d take lower orders but since fuel has gone up I haven’t been able to accept jobs that are not worth it.”
Another DoorDash driver, based in Long Island, New York, says he has witnessed restaurants throwing away food because no driver would pick it up.
DoorDash will increase the base pay to convince drivers to take orders after about an hour if an order is still undelivered, he said.
“I often check the time stamps on receipts to see when the order was made and I’ve made deliveries when the order was placed more than two hours prior,” he said.
